


Rumour Has It

by IAmNotGoodatthisnamingthing



Category: NCT (Band), WAYV
Genre: Getting Together, Kinda Crack, M/M, Mentioned NCT 127 Ensemble, Mentioned WayV Ensemble, bear with me, brief mention of Lee Taeyong, cameos by various NCT members, things i do while procrastinating, what even is this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-07
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:55:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26883982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IAmNotGoodatthisnamingthing/pseuds/IAmNotGoodatthisnamingthing
Summary: It isn't until the third time that he gets introduced as 'Yuta hyung, who broke Winwin's heart' that Yuta begins to suspect this is more than a hazing ritual. Shenanigans ensue.
Relationships: Dong Si Cheng | WinWin/Nakamoto Yuta
Comments: 4
Kudos: 119





	Rumour Has It

It starts with Ten ( _ because of course it does _ ).

Yuta is minding his own business, doing a few cool down stretches in the practice room where NCT 127 had just wrapped their practice session. Some of the other members are around, either tinkering on their phones or practicing their best starfish poses on the floor, so Yuta soaks in the moment, trying to find a moment of tranquility…

...which is exactly when Ten decides to make his entrance, banging open the door and waving at the 127 squad, Cheshire grin fixed on his face. 

WayV’s maknae - a fluffy haired boat-hat wearing guy who Yuta is 95% sure is named Yangyang - shuffles in behind him, big smile on his face that only slightly betrays how nervous he is to encounter a room full of mostly unfamiliar sunbaes.

The digital clock mounted over the doorway informs Yuta that they’ve loitered in the room an hour already since their practice ended, and were cutting into the time when WayV were scheduled to arrive to begin their practice.

“Ten hyung! Yangyang!” Haechan screams, bounding towards the duo. “It’s been a while!”

Ten winks, making a quip that has both Haechan and Yangyang laughing, and Yuta zones out for a bit, to concentrate on his stretching. He keeps an eye on the new arrivals though, watching Yangyang follow Ten around like a baby duckling as Ten introduced him to the members of the 127 squad.

And then the duo is walking towards Yuta, so he leaps up to his feet and fixes his most non-threatening (and many would say non-manic) smile on his face.

“Hey Yuta!” Ten drawls, dragging his younger member by the elbow. “Meet Yangyang, my baby.”

“I’m not a baby. I’m an adult,” Yangyang whines at Ten cutely. “Why do you do this?”

“Because I’m an agent of chaos,” Ten says promptly, doing a 2 finger salute. “And speaking of chaos, meet Yuta hyung, the one who broke our Winwin’s heart.”

“I did what now?” Yuta blinks before shaking his head. “Never mind. Yangyang, hi! It’s nice to finally meet you!”

“You too, hyung,” Yangyang smiles, and Yuta feels instantly endeared by his brightness. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“You mean you’ve heard a lot about how he broke Winwinie’s heart,” Ten commentates from the side.

Yuta snorts, because what else can he do? “You guys landed alright last night?”

“Yes!” Yangyang replies, taking the chance to shed his jacket. “We landed pretty late, but we all slept in. So, now practice and then dinner.”

“And then nap time for baby~” Ten singsongs, coming closer to pinch and wiggle Yangyang’s cheek.

“Ten ge!” Yangyang whines, breaking off into rapid-fire Mandarin. Yuta grins when Ten answers back something that makes Yangyang huff in annoyance and stomp away towards Haechan.

“You haven’t changed, have you?” Yuta says fondly to Ten.

“Agent of chaos, remember?”

“Gotcha!” Yuta attempts a wink. “Where’s the rest of the group? Where’s Winwin? I haven’t seen him in a while.”

“Everyone else is in the second van, possibly on their way in from a Starbucks run,” Ten shrugs, consulting his phone. “Winwinie is already here, but elsewhere. Doing the usual.”

Before Yuta can ask what Ten means by ‘doing the usual’, one of 127’s managers pops his head in to announce that their van is here, and the rest of the members start rounding up.

“Gotta blast,” Yuta says to Ten, watching as he walks to the sound system to hook up his phone. “We should catch up sometime!”

“Let’s do that,” Ten says distractedly, frowning at the phone in his hand. “Say hi to TY from me.”

“Will do! You say hi to Winwin from me,” Yuta says, packing up his bag and pulling on a sweater over his tanktop.

Ten says something that Yuta misses, in the middle of being stuck in his sweater and trying to walk to the door at the same time.

“What did you say?” Yuta asks, once he’s freed himself from the sweater.

“Nothing much,” Ten answers, making Yangyang (who’s now on the floor and effortlessly stretching into a full split) snort. “I said you should say hi to Winwin yourself.”

“I will,” Yuta promises with a parting wave, closing the door behind him and rushing out to the van where his members are already gathered.

He does mean to send a message to Winwin (nicknamed Winko <3 on his phone) immediately but he gets into a petty fight with Doyoung in the car and then when he reaches the dorm, he straightaway crashes on his bed. It isn’t till lunchtime 2 days later that Yuta remembers to text Winwin. 

_ Heyya Winko! Welcome back to Seoul!!! We should go get tea and ramen together like old times, what do you say?!?!! _

Winwin’s reply comes almost immediately.  _ In airport.Flying to China in 30 mins. _

Yuta sends back a flurry of crying emojis interspersed with various heart emojis, and has the pleasure of seeing Winwin leave him on read in real-time.  _ And okay, maybe he kinda deserved that.  _

  
  


The next time it happens, Yuta is sneaking out of the dorm to hangout with Hansol. 

_ Hansol may not be part of SM anymore, but he was Yuta’s first Korean friend, and the one to introduce Yuta to Korean street food and the choicest curse words. He befriended Yuta when others laughed at his accent, and played football with him when others wouldn’t so Yuta snuck out to meet him every now and then to stroll around backend alleys between their dorms while sampling convenience store ramen _ .

It is when he is using the basement of their building to escape that he bumps into two hooded figures.

Before Yuta has time to panic or bust out his slapping hands to fend off potential robbers/kidnappers, one of the hooded figures perks up.

“Hyung!” the hooded figure says, removing his hood and beaming. “Remember me? It’s Yangyang!”

“Of course I remember you,” Yuta grins, feeling more at ease now that he knows Yangyang is neither a robber nor a kidnapper, and thus not deserving of Yuta’s famous slapping hands. “You are out late?”

“Maknae duty,” he smiles, holding up bags of takeout from a nearby Chinese restaurant. “I don’t know if you’ve met our member Xiaojun?”

“Hello, I’m Xiaojun,” the other hooded figure finally lets down his hood to bow slightly. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Good things only I hope,” Yuta quips, taking in the incredible cheekbones of this Xiaojun guy. “I’m Yuta, but you might have already known that, I think.”

“You’re the one who broke Sicheng ge’s heart,” Xiaojun says in slightly shaky Korean, bringing a hand up to brush through his ruffled hair.

“You know, if you guys keep saying that, I might start believing it,” Yuta grins easily, subtly enunciating his words more clearly so Xiaojun can keep up.

Yangyang and Xiaojun exchange a loaded look before they turn back as one and laugh with -  _ and hopefully not at _ \- Yuta.

“You’re going outside?” Xiaojun asks, pausing slightly before hesitantly tacking a ‘hyung’ at the end.

“To meet an old friend,” Yuta explains, toying with the zipper on his leather jacket. “Isn’t it kind of late for you guys to order in takeout?” 

“Movie night!” Yangyang beams gleefully. “We’ll be up all night, and sleep in till noon.”

“Not Winwin though, he rises with the dawn,” Yuta says automatically, knowing his friend’s tendency to wake up and stretch at ungodly hours.

“Not anymore,” Yangyang snorts. “We’ve corrupted him.”

“Wow really?” Yuta’s eyebrows shoot up. “Teach me your ways.” Just then his phone vibrates with a text, and sure enough it’s Hansol cursing him out for being late. “Gotta go, guys. Have fun with the movie, and say hi to everyone else from me!” 

And with one last wave, Yuta sneaks out (and the other two sneak in, now whispering in Mandarin), errantly thinking how exactly did WayV manage to change Winwin’s routines. He makes a mental note of texting Winwin first thing in the morning, and promptly wipes it from his memory somewhere between his fourth and seventh shot of peach soju.

  
  
  


The third time it happens, Yuta is once again coming out of a practice room, but this time fully clothed and ready to head back to the dorm at a decent hour.  _ In his defense, Taeyong had let the group chat know he’d be cooking dinner, so how can Yuta (and possibly most of the other members) not rush back like a herd of gathering cockroaches _ .

So there Yuta is, furiously texting on his phone and definitely not looking where he is going when he bumps into a solid block of muscle.

“Hey watch where y-oh it’s Yuta hyung!” Solid block of muscle aka Lucas greets, face splitting into a smile and large hand coming to pat Yuta’s shoulder. “Hyung, what’s good?”

“Hey Lucas,” Yuta raised his hand to do a fist bump, intentionally mispronouncing Lucas’ name as Lu-Cass. “I’m good, how’s it going with you?”

“Really pumped about our next comeback. We’re learning choreo today,” Lucas shares, shifting to the side to reveal another member behind him.

“This must be Hendery?” Yuta takes an educated guess.

“Wow hyung, that was perfect pronunciation of his name!” Lucas says enthusiastically before Hendery can make a comment. Yuta decides not to mention he’d spent his last holiday week binge watching all of WayV’s variety content _ and now could possibly guess their zodiac signs and blood types correctly _ .

“But yeah, this is Hendery, my chingu!” Lucas continues, now gesturing between Yuta and Hendery. “And this is Yuta hyung of the 127 squad.”

Hendery asks something in Chinese, and Lucas nods, and the only words Yuta manages to catch are  _ Sicheng  _ and  _ ge _ .

“Let me guess,” he says wearily. “I’m the one who broke Winwin’s heart?”

Both Lucas and Hendery freeze, staring at him with wide eyes. “Umm, yeah?” Hendery ventures at last, in Korean. “Hyung knows Chinese?”

“Not at all,” Yuta snorts. “But I’ve been introduced to both Yangyang and Xiaojun with the same words. What is this, some kind of WayV hazing?” Yuta jokes, poking at Lucas’ side.

“Yeah, exactly. Just a joke. Haha,” Lucas makes an uneasy attempt at laughing while exchanging a meaningful look with Hendery, causing Yuta to narrow his eyes because  _ what was going on _ ?

“We need to go, practice and stuff!” Hendery quickly says, averting his eyes.

“Timesheet says you’re not due for another half hour,” Yuta points out, pointing with his thumb where the room reservation schedule is pinned to the wall.

“I need to go to the bathroom,” Hendery yelps, looking anywhere but at Yuta and now sporting a red blush over his ears. “Nice meeting you hyung!” And with that he skips away, leaving a gaping Lucas in his wake.

“I-uh,” Lucas starts, blinking rapidly and fingers busy fiddling with a ring on his hand (a ring Yuta has found out Winwin gifted him). “I have to go?”

“Is there anything I should know, Lucas?” Yuta arches an eyebrow, feeling only slightly guilty about putting this sweet-natured boy on the spot. “What is this ‘breaking Winwin’s heart’ thing you guys are always joking about?”

“I don’t think it’s my place to tell,” Lucas gulps, looking down at his feet. “Can I go now?”

“Sure. One last question,” Yuta says, stopping Lucas from bolting away. “Where’s Winwin?”

“Oh you know, around. Doing the usual,” Lucas vaguely gestures with his hands as he begins to speedwalk away. And then, then comes to a standstill. “Hyung?” Lucas begins in a small voice, as if deliberating whether he should be saying the next words. “It’s not a joke, not really.”

“It’s not a joke,” Yuta parrots back. 

“Do you understand?” Lucas asks, looking like he’s holding his breath.

Yuta blinks. “What’s not a joke?”

And for the first time since he’s met Lucas, Yuta hears him utter a curse (or five) as he shakes his head at Yuta and walks away, mumbling in his mother tongue.

  
  


The final blow comes when all units start assimilating together for the NCT 2020 project. 

The official announcement is still months away, but their set list, looks and choreos are being rapidly finalised. And it’s not unusual to find every NCT member walking around in a state of electric giddiness.

Yuta is getting updated profile photos taken when Jaehyun and Doyoung stroll in, followed by the two new additions to the NCT family.

“Hey Jae, come introduce me to the new thangz!” Yuta says excitedly, throwing away the makeup wipe in his hand and uncaring where it lands. 

“And this is exactly why I saved introducing him for the last,” Jaehyun drawls at the newbies, shaking his head at Yuta’s offbeat humour. 

“Meet Sungchan and Shotaro, who claims he’s a fan of yours, whatever that might mean,” Doyoung introduces. 

“I am a fan of you, hyung,” Shotaro braves in a small voice, looking awestruck.

“Hit me up for lunch sometime, and we can gossip about everyone,” Yuta jokes in his mother tongue, smiling when Shotaro’s face lights up.

“Now that this blatant display of favouritism is done, would you like to introduce yourself to Sungchan too?” Doyoung quips.

“Hey Sungchan, I’m your Yuta hyung, the funniest guy in this place, hands down!” Yuta winks, presenting the newbie with double finger guns.

“I have heard a lot about you hyung,” Sungchan giggles - he actually giggles, and Yuta decides to adopt him on the spot.

“What have you heard?” Yuta asks, exaggeratedly batting his eyelashes, and grinning when he has both Sungchan and Shotaro in stitches.

“I heard you play very good football,” Sungchan says. “And also piano.”

“Haechan said you crack funny jokes,” Shotaro adds.

“And Doyoung hyung was telling us to come to you if we need to learn curse words,” Sungchan adds.

“That’s kind of a compliment, Dokki,” Yuta replies smarmily. “You know, from one potty mouth to another.”  _ Predictably, Doyoung flips him off for the nickname _ .

“Oh,” Sungchan perks up again. “We also heard a rumour that you broke Winwin hyung’s heart.”

A part of Yuta’s brain short-circuits and he can only blink as Jaehyun chuffs out a laugh. “Oh my god, it got down to you guys too? This is hilarious!”

“It is common knowledge after all,” Doyoung rolls his eyes expertly before catching the eye of a manager at the room’s doorway. “Anyway, gotta take Shotaro and Sungchan for their first profile pictures. Catch you later!” And with that Doyoung herds the duo away, leaving a still-laughing Jaehyun beside Yuta.

“Jaehyun, what does that mean?” Yuta asks faintly, because  _ why does this keep happening _ ?

“What does what mean?” Jaehyun asks, tilting his head in confusion.

“The ‘breaking Winwin’s heart’ rumour,” Yuta elaborates, watching as a flash of emotions cross Jaehyun’s face. “I thought it was an inside joke for the WayV guys, but Doyoung seemed to imply it’s a bit more than that?”

Jaehyun scoffs, fixing Yuta with a look of judgment that Yuta has never before seen on his face.

“What?” Yuta asks defensively, crossing his arms across his chest.

“You’re ridiculous,” Jaehyun retorts in English, shaking his head before walking away, leaving Yuta gaping after him.

  
  
  


In the end, Yuta decides to go to the source itself. One fine morning when he’s reasonably sure WayV is in Korea and have a day off, he strolls into their dorms bright and early at an hour past noon to find…

“Kun?” Yuta waves at WayV’s de facto leader who looks like he has just woken up from a nap.

“Yuta?” Kun blinks at him, wrapping his robe more tightly around his frame. “What are you doing here?”

“Looking for Winwin,” Yuta says simply. “Is he in?”

“Winwin?” Kun says faintly, eyes glazing over for a moment. “Oh Winwin. Sicheng, right. Let’s see,” he trails off, tiptoeing towards one of the bedrooms, leaving Yuta to close the door behind him.

Kun comes back in less than a minute to find Yuta awkwardly hovering around the den. “He’s not in his room. Let’s check the kitchen.”

“Kitchen? Are you trying to say Winko cooks?” Yuta gapes, eyebrows shooting up in surprise.

“No!” Kun snorts. “We have a system, where we share our whereabouts before going out by ourselves,” he explains making for the fridge and plucking a yellow sticky note from it. “Just as I suspected, he’s out. And oh!” Kun pauses, reading.

“Oh?” Yuta inquires.

“You didn’t need to come so far, he’s with Taeyong on your fifth floor dorm,” Kun laughs. “Apparently, Taeyong promised to cook him seafood noodles.”

“Oh,” Yuta replies, lost about what to do next. On one hand, he wants to talk to Winwin and (he’d been secretly hoping to sneak Winwin out for a lunch at one of their old haunts), on the other hand he was well aware of how much Winwin adored Taeyong (and vice versa) and he didn’t want to crash their hangout.

“Want a coffee?” Kun offers, holding up two cups. “Or tea?”

“I’ll have one of whatever you’re having,” Yuta shrugs, sliding into a kitchen stool. “Tell me what you’ve been up to. How’s the new variety show?”

They chat for a few minutes, exchanging life updates and exasperations over pranks by their younger members, and it isn’t until Yuta is draining the last sip of his coffee that he remembers the reason for his visit.

“Kun, can I ask you something?” Yuta asks abruptly.

“Of course,” Kun smiles openly, but also slightly knowingly.

“There seems to be a rumour going around that I broke Winwin’s heart,” Yuta says carefully. “Do you know anything about it?”

“I know a lot of things about it,” Kun smirks. “What do  _ you _ want to know?”

“Did I?” Yuta asks in a small voice. “Did I really break Winwin’s heart?”

Kun looks at him silently for an overlong second, before his eyes shift somewhere to the left and behind Yuta. “Ask him yourself, why don’t you?”

“What?” Yuta whips around, to find Winwin leaning on the doorway, long legs crossed at the ankles. “Winwin, aren’t you catching lunch with Taeyong?”

“He’s still cooking, and Kun ge messaged me to drop by,” Winwin shrugs.

“When?” Yuta looks back at Kun, who’s studying the two of them over the rim of his cup.

“Before making the tea. I had a hunch,” Kun shrugs, before focusing on Winwin and saying something in Mandarin.

Winwin shakes his head before decisively saying in Korean, “It’s okay. I don’t mind if you stay.” He walks around Yuta, and hops up on a kitchen counter, facing them both at the same time. “What did you want to know?”

“The rumours,” Yuta flounders for words. “Is any of it true?”

“You mean, did you break my heart?” Winwin cuts to the chase. Yuta nods. 

“Yes and no,” Winwin hums. “My heart was broken for a while, but you did not deliberately break it. Or at least I think you didn’t.”

“You-,” Yuta gapes like a fish, trying to process what he’s hearing. “Wait. Do you mean you like me? Or liked me?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Winwin shrugs, his expression almost-businesslike. “It’s not important.”

“Of course it’s important, it’s you!” Yuta says automatically, recalling nights (from what seemed aeons ago) when he’d uttered these exact words with indignation when Winwin had been doubting his talents.

“Hyung, it’s not important. And it won’t affect our friendship,” Winwin says firmly. “Or whatever is left of it,” he mutters in an undertone, the words only barely making it to Yuta’s hearing. 

And okay,  _ he deserves that _ . Yuta had been the one to stop his usual habit of being clingy and flirty, and Yuta had been the one to stop texting every 6 hours wondering how Winwin’s day was going. But Winwin had been the one to decline invites for sleepovers at 127 dorms, and spend time going around hanging out with everyone that was not him, and  _ wait _ !

“You’ve been avoiding me!” Yuta realises. “You only game with Jaehyun at our dorm when I’m out, and I’m sure you’ve been avoiding me at the company, using some of our friends as lookouts,” Yuta thinks aloud, reminiscing over suspicious questioning regarding his whereabouts from just about every 127er in the past few months. 

“I have,” Winwin admits calmly, not even having the decency to look guilty. “I was betting on you being too distracted to notice.”

“I just realised it,” Yuta confesses, mind still racing. “Why avoid me?”

This time Kun snorts, murmuring something that manages to make Winwin’s whole face bloom tomato red.

“What?” Yuta demands, slightly wary.

Winwin sighs. “You have a dangerous habit of walking around shirtless,” he shakes his head. “Both in the dorm and the practice rooms. I was saving myself the stress.”

(And...Yuta thinks he understands what every WayV member had meant when he’d inquired about Winwin and they’d said he was doing the usual.)

“So you’re attracted to me?” Yuta fishes.

“It’s not only sexual,” Winwin deadpans, causing Kun to spit out a mouthful of coffee and choke on his breath. Winwin jumps down from his perch to quickly slap Kun’s back. “Better?” he asks, leaning close to his leader.

“Yes,” Kun gasps. “Please continue.”

“Right,” Winwin turns back to Yuta. “I mean I think you have an attractive figure, but it’s more than that. You’ve always been kind to me, patient to hear my thoughts and happy to cheer me on. Even though you were a bit too aggressively clingy but I was okay with it, because it was you.”

“I thought you found my attention overwhelming,” Yuta says faintly, because  _ this changes everything _ .

“It was overwhelming, but not just for the reasons you’re thinking,” Winwin notes, sighing. “I made the mistake of blurting out something I shouldn’t have while drinking with Xuxi and Renjun, and Renjun told it to the dreamies, and Xuxi told it to Ten ge, and now everyone knows about the crush I have on you.”

“You have a crush on me?” Yuta replies dumbly, trying and failing to process Winwin’s words.

“It doesn’t matter now, does it?” Winwin says. “We’re clearly at different places with our friendship. There’s nothing to talk about. And I’m sorry the others have been ribbing you, I’ll ask them to stop.”

“Okay,” Yuta nods, trying to rearrange the words racing around his head into something coherent.

“That’s sorted then,” Winwin claps his hand, fixing a smile on his face. “I’m gonna go get my jjampong. I’ll catch you later?” And with that Winwin begins to walk away briskly, as if escaping from a request to perform aegyo.

It’s only after Winwin leaves the house that Kun clears his throat. 

“Are you gonna do something about that?” Kun asks, narrowing his eyes.

“I, I don’t know?” Yuta says, sounding the epitome of lost. His head is muddled with thoughts. “Winwin likes me?”

Kun nods.

“Everyone thinks I broke his heart because Winwin thinks he has a hopeless crush on me?”

“Sicheng does have a hopeless crush on you. It’s been the topic of many of our drunken conversations,” Kun affirms.

“Let me circle back to that in a moment,” Yuta replies. “Does Winwin think I’ve been growing apart from him? Or that I don’t prioritise him anymore?”

Kun nods warily this time.

“Because he thinks I’m chill being distant and not clingy with him?” Yuta ventures. 

This time when Kun nods, Yuta can’t help but bang his head on the table. And again.

“Yuta!” Kun shouts in alarm. “What are you doing?”

“Hitting myself because I deserve it,” Yuta laughs mirthlessly. “Winwin has been avoiding me to get over his feelings for me, and I’ve been giving him space because he seems happier now, with you guys and I only want what makes him happy.”

“Jesus,” Kun mutters under his breath, eyes widening with realisation. “Yuta, are you saying that-”

“I was clingy before and now I’m being distant because I love Winwin, possibly the same way he loves me?” Yuta interjects, not failing to see the irony of this predicament. 

“Jesus!” someone else gasps from behind Yuta, and turning around he sees Ten standing at the doorway, sporting a bedhead.

“You have to tell him!” Ten urges fumbling around his pockets for his phone (undoubtedly to spread the rumour). 

“I have to tell him,” Yuta parrots, turning back to Kun. “I have to tell him! Now!”

“Then why are you still here?!” Kun asks, pointing at the door.

“I’m gonna run, thanks for the coffee, and the help processing. You’re awesome,” Yuta salutes Kun, standing up. “And Ten? If Winwin somehow finds out I’m coming and escapes  _ to do the usual _ , I’m coming back with sharpies and scissors to destroy your wardrobe.”

Without waiting for an answer, Yuta dashes out of the WayV dorm, and runs down the staircase (too impatient to wait for the elevator), and then skips up the stairs to 127’s 5th floor dorm. 

He punches the passcode wildly out of breath and rushes into the kitchen to find Johnny - of all people - feeding a morose-looking Winwin spoonfuls of mint chocolate ice-cream.

“IwasstupidandyouwerestupidandweshouldcommunicatemoreKunisagodsendIneedairholdon,” Yuta lets out in one breath before squatting down on his knees, struggling to catch his breath.

He tries to calm down his racing heart, and is unsurprised to find Winwin dropping into a graceful fold in front of him after a couple of minutes, to hold out a glass of water.

“Thanks,” he says quickly, before devouring the entire glass’ worth of water. “I needed that.”

“Better now?” Winwin asks softly.

“I will be once I tell you it,” Yuta says. “Can we talk in private?” 

“What for?” Johnny asks suspiciously, hovering protectively behind Winwin. 

“Let them go!” Taeyong exclaims, looking down at his phone. “They need to talk! Now!”

“We do?” Winwin wonders, looking between a wildly sweating Yuta, a confused looking Johnny and Taeyong, who’s busy reading the contents of his phone (undoubtedly updates from Ten).

“We do,” Yuta says, facing Taeyong for a moment. “Can we use your room for a bit?” 

“Of course,” Taeyong nods, looking like he’s three seconds away from shoving them both in himself.

“Winko?” Yuta asks, gesturing to Winwin to take the lead. Winwin takes one long look at Yuta before sparing Johnny and Taeyong quick glances, before he’s standing up and walking to Taeyong’s room. Yuta ambles after him, trying to ignore the furious whisperings between Johnny and Haechan behind them.

It’s only when they’ve both entered Taeyong’s room and Yuta has closed the door behind him that he realises…

“I don’t know where to start,” Yuta confesses truthfully.

“You don’t need to say anything, or apologise. Like I said, I’m sorting it out,” Winwin says, clambering onto Taeyong’s bed and wrapping his hands around his knees.

“This will be the most douchebag question to start with, but does that mean you still have feelings for me?” Yuta asks.

“I do,” Winwin nods, frowning slightly. “But don’t worry about it, I won’t be any different towards you.” 

“What if I will?” Yuta says. “Be different around you?”

“Well,” Winwin swallows noisily, picking at nonexistent lint on his jeans. “That’s understandable, if you want some space, or if you feel disgust. I’ll...try to cope,” his voice tapers off as he nods, as if he’s trying to convince himself.

“What if I act the way I used to act before? Clinging to you and demanding your attention? Would you run and hide from me?” Yuta asks.

Winwin sighs, “Probably. I have my heart to protect after all,” he takes a quick pause. “What is going on, hyung. I don’t understand this conversation.”

“We should have had this conversation months ago, maybe even years,” Yuta shakes his head. “It would have spared us the heartache and angst.”

“What do you mean?” Winwin asks, looking up at Yuta.

“I mean I’m in love with you, and I have been for a long, long time,” Yuta laughs. “I used to cling to you to show you how much I adore you, and I stopped clinging to you because you seemed happier away from me.”

“That’s stupid,” Winwin frowns. “I have good friends, I’m not gonna lie. But you mean different to me. I thought you knew that.”

“I didn’t know that, and you didn’t know my feelings,” Yuta shakes his head.

“So you’re saying…,” Winwin trails off.

“We both like each other, and we’ve been hot and cold because of miscommunications and our misguided assumptions,” Yuta surmises.

“Huh,” Winwin blinks. “So what now?”

“We can go on dates, if you’d like? Or hang out? Or be boyfriends?” Yuta lays out their options. “I’m up for whatever you want.”

“What if I want it all?” Winwin says, something fierce shifting in his gaze. “What if I want all of you?”

“Then you’ll have all of me,” Yuta replies, easy as breathing. “As long as I get to have all of you too.”

“I have one condition,” Winwin says seriously. “No more miscommunications. You need to tell me what you’re thinking and I’ll do the same.”

“Agreed,” Yuta nods. “Do you want to shake on it?”

Winwin nods, standing up and making his way to Yuta. Yuta wastes no time in looping his fingers through Winwin’s belt hoops and drawing him impossibly closer.

“Winko baby,” he drawls smarmily. “Do you really hide around the practice rooms because you don’t want to see me all hot and sweaty?” 

“Don’t make fun of me,” Winwin whines, steepling his hands behind Yuta’s back.

“I’m not,” Yuta says, dropping his voice an octave lower. “I’m just saying I can think of a  _ number _ of ways for us to get hot and sweaty.”

Before Yuta can say something slightly more lewd, or Winwin can answer him, Taeyong’s door bursts open and the Mom Squad walks in, scowls etched on each of their faces.

“You will not defile Sicheng,” Taeyong warns. “Not in my room.”

“And not before wining and dining him,” Doyoung says, crossing his arms. “And especially not before 3 dates, and not in our dorms please.”

Kun shakes his head in disappointment. “I can’t believe you’re trying to get into his pants without asking him to be your boyfriend.”

“I haven’’t?” Yuta frowns, glancing at Winwin who shakes his head subtly. “Shit. Winko, will you be my better half, till death or the Mom Squad forces us apart?”

“You’re ridiculous,” Winwin laughs fondly. “And I will. Now if you’ll excuse us, gentlemen,” Winwin turns to face the trio who want nothing but the best for him. “Yuta and I are going to the walkway in that corner not covered by the CCTV, and we’re going to make out. Please tell the others to give us 30 minutes of privacy.”

“30 minutes with  _ him _ ?” Doyoung splutters the same time as Yuta whines, “Why only 30 minutes?”

  
  
  


“Yuta hyung, come meet our soon-to-be debuting girl group members!” Haechan calls him from across the hallway. Yuta looks up from where he had been filling his flask with water, and finds Haechan surrounded by 4 girls (a couple of whom he vaguely remembers from the SM Rookies days).

“Hi girls!” Yuta waves at them in a friendly but subdued manner (he was their sunbae after all!). “We’re all looking forward to your debut.”

“We’ll work hard!” One of the girls says, stepping a bit in front of the others in a way that clearly signals her out as the leader. And so, Yuta decides to introduce himself to her first.

“I’m Nakamoto Yuta, you might have heard of me,” he says, brandishing his hand for a handshake.

“We’ve heard a lot about you from Haechannie,” the girl nudges Haechan (who turns an interesting shade of pink at the contact). 

“Let me guess,” Yuta does a good-natured eye roll. “I’m the one dating my groupmate?”

“Also the one who tried to paw him in Taeyong oppa’s room!” Another girl piped up, only to be elbowed by her friend beside her. “I mean, it’s just a rumour we heard, nothing to do with Haechan oppa.”

“Haechan,” Yuta says in a deathly calm voice, slowly turning to face Haechan who is inching away. “I suggest you say goodbye to the girls and send a prayer upwards, because I’m about to strangle you.”

“Only if you catch me first,” Haechan screams, running away down the hallway and into a practice room. Yuta gives him chase, muttering curses all the way until Haechan decides to dive behind Winwin.

“What happened?” Winwin asks with a laugh, leaning back to ruffle Haechan’s hair affectionately.

“That devil spawn has been spreading rumours again, that I tried to grope you when I asked you out,” Yuta breathes out, glaring at Haechan.

“But babe,” Winwin drawls. “We did a little more than grope? Have you already forgotten? Do you need me to describe exactly what we did and what else we were planning to do?” And that makes Haechan’s face go slack with horror before he’s screaming to get away from them.

“And that’s how you shut him up,” Winwin chuckles, looking fondly at where Haechan has cornered Mark to wildly gesticulate at him.

“You’re diabolical,” Yuta says, stepping closer to wrap his hands around his boyfriend. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Winwin beams, turning around to kiss him. “But I have work to do, and you’re being very distracting.”

“Aye aye captain,” Yuta mock-salutes him, bounding away but only after stealing another languid kiss. 

There will be plenty of time for Yuta and Winwin to spend together later. It’s a lull period between promotions, so they could visit one of their favourite restaurants, or catch dinner at either the 127 dorm or WayV (where the members spoke elementary level Chinese to allow Yuta to understand and contribute to the dinnertime discussions); or they could go out and have some cotton candy by the river; or watch a movie and cuddle in bed; the possibilities are endless, and Yuta can’t wait!

**Author's Note:**

> Please excuse me for any typos. I wrote this till fairly unmentionable hours.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed reading~ Let me know your thoughts!


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